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The Celestial Jewel Pleiades Star Cluster
Available in all sizes and media: A2 - A0 in Fine Art Prints and 18" up to 48" widths in Polished Aluminium, Frameless Acrylic and Framed Backlit.
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About The Celestial Jewel Pleiades Star Cluster
Nestled within the Taurus constellation, the Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters or Messier 45, is one of the most enchanting sights in the night sky. This open cluster has captivated human imagination for millennia, appearing in ancient myths and folklore across cultures worldwide. But what exactly makes the Pleiades so fascinating, and what can we learn from this celestial jewel?
An Open Cluster: A Stellar Family
The Pleiades is classified as an open cluster, a group of stars that formed from the same molecular cloud and are bound together by gravity. Unlike globular clusters, which contain hundreds of thousands of older stars, open clusters like the Pleiades are relatively sparse and often contain younger stars. The stars in open clusters are loosely bound, which means they eventually drift apart over time due to gravitational interactions with other stars and galactic structures.
The Youthful Age of the Pleiades
The Pleiades cluster is remarkably young in astronomical terms, with an estimated age of about 100 million years. This youth is evident in the cluster's bright, blue-hot stars, which burn through their nuclear fuel at a rapid pace. These young, hot stars contrast with older, cooler stars found in older clusters or in the galactic halo.
A Dance with Interstellar Dust
One of the most captivating aspects of the Pleiades is its interaction with interstellar dust. As the cluster travels through the galaxy, it encounters regions of cosmic dust and gas. The starlight from the Pleiades illuminates this dust, creating a faint, ethereal glow around the cluster. This reflection nebula, most visible through telescopes, adds a mystical quality to the already striking cluster and provides astronomers with valuable data about the composition and density of interstellar material.
Location and Visibility
The Pleiades is located about 444 light-years away from Earth and is one of the closest star clusters to our planet. Its proximity and brightness make it easily visible to the naked eye, even from areas with moderate light pollution. In the northern hemisphere, the cluster can be seen from late autumn to early spring, gracing the sky as a small, shimmering patch. In the southern hemisphere, it is visible in the summer and early autumn.
The Life Cycle of Stars
The Pleiades offers a window into the life cycle of stars. Observing the cluster helps astronomers understand how stars form, evolve, and eventually disperse. Since the cluster is relatively young, it provides insights into the early stages of stellar development. The stars of the Pleiades will eventually burn through their nuclear fuel and evolve into red giants before shedding their outer layers and leaving behind white dwarfs.
A Cultural and Astronomical Treasure
Beyond its scientific significance, the Pleiades holds a special place in human culture. It appears in Greek mythology as the Seven Sisters, daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione. In Japanese, the cluster is known as "Subaru," which means "unite" and is also the namesake of the well-known car brand's logo, featuring six stars. Indigenous peoples, including the Māori of New Zealand and the Native Americans, have their own rich legends associated with the Pleiades.
A Starry Future
As the Pleiades continues its journey through the Milky Way, it will gradually lose its members to the galactic tides. In a few hundred million years, the cluster will disperse, and its stars will become part of the wider stellar population of the galaxy. But for now, it remains a beacon of beauty and mystery, inviting us to gaze upwards and ponder the vastness of the cosmos.
In summary, the Pleiades star cluster is not just a visual delight but a dynamic system that offers invaluable insights into stellar formation and evolution. Its interaction with interstellar dust, youthful stars, and cultural significance makes it a true gem in the celestial sphere, worthy of admiration and study.
Imaging Pleiades
To get the exquisite detail many hours of imaging is required through a range of filters. To build up to the hours required I take ‘sub frames’ or images of a shorter duration, which I can later stack together using astronomy software. In addition I used five different filters for this particular image, Luminance (actually this is no filter, just capturing white light), Red, Blue, Green and a Hydrogen Alpha (Ha) narrowband filter. The red, green and blue filters supply the data which is eventually used to create the colour. These sub frame exposures were 5 minutes and ‘binned X2’, meaning pixels are combined to double the sensitivity. The luminance exposures were only 2 minutes as the stars are bright. This Luminance data gives much more of the detail and is added to the RGB image data during the processing.
As mentioned earlier there is interstellar dust being heated and glowing. This is emitting a certain ionized state of Hydrogen, so I wanted to capture this data and incorporate it into the image to show the stunning detail. To do this I used a narrowband filter ‘Ha’ and 20 minute sub frame exposures to build up 4 hours of Ha data. This data was then blended with the Luminance filter data to reveal the intricate details. In total there is 10 hours of exposure.
In addition to capturing the ‘light data’ at various wavelengths, many calibrations are required to create a good photograph. You can see much more about this on my web site www.galaxyonglass.com/about.
I hope you will get much pleasure from this image and the way it is presented with the acrylic, polished aluminium, fine art print or framed and backlit. There are so many beautiful objects to enjoy in deep space!
Thank you for your purchase and I hope you get many years of joy from this picture.
There is so much to look at and enjoy in this fascinating and beautiful image. Every time I look at it I see something new. I hope you like it too and and if you would like to purchase it in one of the media then pop along to HERE And don't forget the JANUARY DISCOUNT OFFER (ending 31st Jan 2025 of 20% - use the code: READER25 on check-out
Chris Baker
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